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Thread: Cedric Poore Sentenced to LWOP for 2013 OK Quadruple Homicide

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    Cedric Poore Sentenced to LWOP for 2013 OK Quadruple Homicide


    Julie Jackson, Misty Nunley, Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell-Melchor




    James Poore, left, and brother Cedric Poore, right


    Hearing resumes in Fairmont Terrace killings

    A preliminary hearing resumed Monday in Tulsa District Court for two brothers accused in the execution-style shootings of four women killed in an apartment at Fairmont Terrace.

    The hearing for brothers James Poore, 32, and Cedric Poore, 39, was continued from July, when four prosecution witnesses testified during three days.

    During the July testimony, Special Judge Stephen Clark expressed frustration with the pace, as defense attorneys repeatedly lodged objections and clashed with prosecutors.

    The hearing began Monday with more than an hour of argument by defense attorney John Echols, who represents Cedric Poore, over various issues. The hearing is expected to last several days.

    Echols asked the judge to order documents unsealed regarding a hearing in May during which prosecutors apparently granted immunity to a witness.

    The witness, Jamila Jones, had made statements during the investigation that "made her part and parcel to a murder," Echols claimed.

    Clark denied the motion, saying the judge who ordered the documents sealed should hear it.

    Echols also complained that city officials were interfering with his attempts to talk to police officers and that prosecutors had not turned over current addresses for some witnesses.

    First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond said many of the witnesses were "transient" and that the issue had also caused problems for prosecutors.

    Clark either overruled or deferred Echols' motions, saying they could be considered at a later time.

    The Poore brothers are each charged with four counts of first-degree murder. The homicides occurred Jan. 7 in an apartment at the Fairmont Terrace complex near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue.

    Killed were Julie Jackson, 55; Misty Nunley, 33; Rebeika Powell, 23; and Kayetie Powell Melchor, 23. District Attorney Tim Harris has not announced whether he will seek the death penalty in the case. That decision is usually made following the conclusion of a preliminary hearing.

    Attorney Kathy Fry is representing James Poore.

    Four witnesses have testified so far in the hearing, which will determine whether the brothers will be held for trial.

    According to arrest reports and witness testimony, the men told witnesses they were “going to pull a lick” — a robbery — at Powell’s apartment. Cedric Poore was armed with a .40-caliber pistol, according to police.

    A neighbor testified in July about finding the four women bound and shot in a bedroom of the apartment where Nunley lived with Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor, who are sisters. Jackson was a neighbor who had apparently gone to check on the women.

    Casey Poore, Cedric Poore’s wife, testified that James Poore told her he shot the women because he feared they could identify him.

    Officials have said drugs and money were stolen during the robbery.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.as...81844?subj=298
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    Judge says brothers charged in Tulsa quadruple killing should stand trial

    Two brothers accused of robbing and shooting four women to death in January should stand trial on first-degree murder charges, a judge ruled Friday in Tulsa district court.

    Cedric Poore and James Poore were stone-faced as they were led away from the courtroom in shackles on the seventh day of their preliminary hearing in the killings of 23-year-old twins Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Melchor, 33-year-old Misty Nunley and 55-year-old Julie Jackson.

    The brothers are accused of robbing the four women, then shooting them out of fear of being recognized by their victims.

    The women were discovered around midday in a back bedroom of Powell's apartment on Jan. 7. All four had their hands tied behind their backs with blue or pink fabric and gunshots to the head.

    Judge Stephen Clark set a Sept. 23 arraignment for both men. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether they'll seek the death penalty.

    The brothers have each pleaded not guilty to the first-degree killings and are being represented by separate attorneys.

    "These women must have been terrorized," First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond told the court in closing statements early Friday. "There was only one gun, so the others had to witness (the others being shot.) "It was cold-blooded murder in that apartment."

    After the hearing, Drummond said the case was likely among the longest preliminary hearings he'd ever tried as a prosecutor. He said he has been advising family members of the women to be patient in their wait for justice.

    "This is going to be a long road," he said.

    The four attorneys representing the Poores argued Friday that the state built a flimsy case on unreliable witnesses who admittedly used drugs and cut deals with the state and wanted the chance to call their own witnesses to prove it — a request Clark denied.

    "We want to put the testimony under scrutiny," said John Echols, a defense attorney for Cedric Poore.

    On Wednesday, a teenager testified James Poore told him and several others that he and Cedric Poore had to shoot the four women — who lived in the same apartment complex — because they recognized him.

    Earlier this week, James Poore's girlfriend, Jamila Jones, testified under an agreement with the state that she had tipped James off to jewelry, drugs and money inside Powell's apartment.

    http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/sto.../#.UjN03H_b1Xg
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    Arraignment Delayed In Tulsa Shooting Case

    A judge has delayed the arraignment for two brothers accused of robbing and fatally shooting four women in January.

    District Judge William Kellough postponed setting a trial date for Cedric Poore and James Poore until Jan. 21. The hearing had been set for Monday.

    The brothers are accused in the killings of 23-year-old twins Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Melchor, 33-year-old Misty Nunley and 55-year-old Julie Jackson.

    Prosecutors say the brothers robbed the women and then shot them out of fear of being recognized.

    The brothers have each pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and are being represented by separate attorneys.

    Prosecutors have yet to decide whether they'll seek the death penalty in the case.

    http://www.kswo.com/story/23503990/a...-shooting-case
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    March 10, 2014

    Attorneys for Tulsa man charged in 4 deaths want evidence obtained through warrant dropped

    By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS
    The Associated Press

    TULSA, Oklahoma — Evidence obtained through a search warrant in the 2013 shooting deaths of four women in Tulsa should be tossed because the affidavit supporting it was too general and short on specifics, attorneys for one of two brothers charged with the killings claimed Monday in a court filing.

    The document was one of several filed Monday in district court on behalf of Cedric Poore, who along with his brother, James Poore, is charged in the deaths of 23-year-old twins Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Melchor, 33-year-old Misty Nunley and 55-year-old Julie Jackson.

    Prosecutors allege the brothers robbed the women, then shot them out of fear of being recognized. All four victims had their hands tied behind their backs with blue or pink fabric and gunshots to the head. The January 2013 shootings happened in midday in a troubled part of south Tulsa that has been plagued by blight and crime.

    Both brothers have pleaded not guilty and are being represented by separate attorneys, who have argued for months that the state has built a flimsy case against the men based on unreliable witnesses who admittedly used drugs and cut deals with prosecutors.

    One of Monday's filings deals with shell casings from a .40-caliber pistol recovered at a house owned by a relative of Cedric Poore's. The affidavit requesting a search warrant stated that witnesses told investigators that "the suspects used a .40-caliber pistol to shoot the victims," according to the court filing. The legal filing then states that witnesses told investigators that the suspects "shot the same pistol with James Poore on New Year's Eve night in the backyard" of the relative's house.

    "Simply put, the affidavit is long on irrelevant generalities and short on specific allegations attributed to reliable sources," Monday's filing states.

    Because of the vagueness of the affidavit, "the evidence presented by the state at the preliminary (hearing) was untrustworthy and insufficient to hold Cedric Poore for trial," Cedric Poore's attorney, John Echols, said in an email Monday.

    But Tulsa County First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond suggested the filings by the defense were typical.

    "It is common for defense attorneys to file such motions and attack the credibility of witnesses," Drummond said in a statement Monday. "Once we file our responses, it will be up to the judge to objectively decide whether there is any legal merit to these arguments," he said.

    http://www.therepublic.com/w/OK--Tulsa-Apartment-Deaths

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    DA won't seek death penalty in Fairmont Terrace slayings

    The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office announced Friday that it will not seek the death penalty against two Tulsa brothers facing separate jury trials in a quadruple homicide case.

    James Poore, 33, and Cedric Poore, 40, are each charged with four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of robbery with a firearm but will not be faced with the death penalty, First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond told the Tulsa World.

    Earlier this month, Tulsa County District Judge William Kellough granted separate trials for the Poore brothers, who are accused in the fatal shootings of Julie Jackson, Misty Nunley, Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor on Jan. 7, 2013, at the Fairmont Terrace apartment complex near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue.

    Arraignments for both men are scheduled for May 19. No trial dates have been set.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepage1/...cb67db9af.html
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    Somewhat related, and maybe an explanation as to why the DA chose not to seek the death penalty for the Poore brothers.

    Tulsa County jurors reluctant to hand out death penalty, analysis shows

    Reflecting a trend across the nation, Tulsa County jurors are increasingly reluctant to levy the death penalty, handing out the ultimate punishment in just one case filed since 2007, a Tulsa World analysis shows.

    It's not for lack of trying by prosecutors, however.

    Tulsa County prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against nine defendants in murder cases filed since Jan. 1, 2007. Jurors came back with a death penalty in one case, following the 2009 trial of Raymond Eugene Johnson. Johnson received two death sentences in the deaths of his former girlfriend and her infant daughter, records show.

    County juries also gave the death penalty to two other defendants since 2007 in cases filed earlier, records show. In another case, a defendant asked for a death sentence but a Tulsa district judge sentenced him to life in 2008.

    Doug Drummond, first assistant district attorney, said factors including a defendant's age, relationship to the victim and willingness to accept life without parole affect whether jurors support the death penalty. Jurors often expect DNA evidence, a confession or similar evidence to be convinced of guilt "beyond any doubt," he said.

    Meanwhile, prosecutors weigh the wishes of victims' relatives, strength of the evidence and any mitigating factors involving the defendant when deciding on the death penalty.

    "Whatever the numbers are, certainly we have filed fewer death penalty cases over the years," he said.

    Prosecutors reserve the death penalty for "the worst of the worst" cases, Drummond said. The DA's office must first file a "bill of particulars" outlining aggravating factors when seeking the death penalty.

    "In nearly every case that I've filed a bill, I've offered life without parole," Drummond said.

    "I feel it's my obligation to take that back to the (victim's) family," if the defendant agrees, he said.

    In cases filed since 2007, prosecutors agreed to life-without-parole sentences for five of the nine defendants, records show.

    They included Alvin Lee Watts and Jacob Carl England, who each received five consecutive life sentences in the Good Friday killings that drew national attention. England and Watts, listed as white in court documents, were charged with shooting five black people at random in north Tulsa on Good Friday of 2012.

    Victims' family members in that case agreed with the plea deal in part to avoid years of appeals that come with any death penalty case.

    Closure can take time

    In some capital cases, closure can mean a 34-year wait.

    Steve Travis' wife, Sun I. "Kim" Travis, was murdered in June 1979, when she was abducted from a parking lot at her Tulsa apartment complex as she returned home from work.

    Her body was found the next day. She had been beaten, raped and shot in the head.

    Anthony Banks was not charged with her murder until 1997, after the development of the use of DNA evidence.

    Banks was executed in September 2013.

    Travis, a longtime law enforcement officer in Virginia who was a Tulsa police officer for a few years, said he believes in the death penalty, and he indicated that nothing happened in his wife's case to change his view.

    Banks "did not deserve to live," he said.

    "Kim was a totally good person," Steve Travis said. She was 25 years old, weighed 96 pounds and sat on a pillow to boost herself when driving. Travis traveled from Virginia to Tulsa for court proceedings over the years, and he testified as a witness in the case.

    "I didn't come back for the execution," said Travis, who was entitled to attend.

    He said Tulsa police and prosecutors did a good job in handling the case and keeping him informed of developments.

    One of the oldest Tulsa County death penalty cases still pending involves Jemaine Cannon. Jurors found Cannon guilty of murdering a woman in her Tulsa apartment while he was a prison escapee more than 19 years ago.

    Cannon's death sentence has been upheld by a federal judge and is now on appeal with the 10 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Life without parole


    In two recent Tulsa County cases, jurors gave defendants life without parole instead of death.

    Last month, jurors spared the life of Darren Price, 21, for the murders of a young couple at a Tulsa park. Price received two life-without-parole sentences in the shooting deaths of Carissa Horton, 18, and Ethan Nichols, 21.

    The two were robbed and shot at Hicks Park, near 3400 S. Mingo Road, on Sept. 19, 2011.

    Jurors also rejected prosecutors' bid for the death penalty in a 2013 case, giving Zane Atchison two life-without-parole sentences instead. Atchison, 26, was found guilty in the shooting deaths of two people in a church parking lot.

    Drummond said those verdicts were likely due to individual factors in the cases. Jurors may have been reluctant to give the death penalty to Price because of his youth — he was 19 when the crime occurred, he said.

    In Atchison's case, a police affidavit states one of the victims owed $45,000 "in relation to drug dealings."

    "We probably need to see some more objective data I don't think you can look at two cases and say that's a pattern," Drummond said.

    He said the District Attorney's Office expects to decide in April or May whether to seek the death penalty in the shooting deaths of four women at Fairmont Terrace, near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue.

    Brothers Cedric Poore, 40, and James Poore, 33, are charged with the execution-style slayings of the women at the apartment complex on Jan. 7, 2013.

    National trend


    Richard Dieter, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said a drop in death sentences in Oklahoma as a whole reflects a national trend.

    "This is a national pattern where the number of death sentences since 1996, which was sort of a high point, has dropped 75 percent," Dieter said.

    "I think that's also reflected in Oklahoma ... Oklahoma had 15 or 16 death sentences a year for many years in the 1990s and lately they've had an average of one death sentence per year for the whole state."

    There are currently 51 people on Oklahoma's death row. Of those, 24 defendants came from cases filed in Oklahoma County and 11 from Tulsa County, records show.

    Dieter said public attitudes about the death penalty have shifted as inmates across the country, some facing death, have been freed due to newly discovered evidence.

    "Life without parole is becoming the alternative that juries will go to and of course prosecutors know this. You've got a sentence that is not nearly as subject to review so there's not a whole lot to challenge. A death penalty case keeps coming back, and all sides have to be engaged in it for 15 years or more."

    Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said he has seen attitudes about the death penalty change over the two decades he has been a prosecutor. Prater joined the staff as in intern in 1993 under then-District Attorney Bob Macy, known for frequently seeking the death penalty.

    "We really can't take into consideration societal norms; we have to follow the law. What we do consider is, do we believe this morally and ethically is the right thing to do," Prater said.

    If the defendant is willing to plead guilty, waive all appeal rights and answer any questions the victim's family has about the crime, "we are very likely to go ahead and allow that to happen."

    In other cases, however, "we feel obligated to go forward on a death case notwithstanding the defendant's desire to take a plea deal."

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...6a3dd6a3d.html
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    Trial Dates Set In 2013 Killings Of Four Tulsa Women

    TULSA, Oklahoma - A Tulsa judge has set separate jury trials for two men accused of shooting four women to death in an apartment last year.

    Judge William Kellough set the trial for James Poore for January 12, 2015 and February 9, 2015 for Poore's brother, Cedric Poore.

    Both men have pleaded not guilty to killing 23-year-old twins Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Melchor, 33-year-old Misty Nunley and 55-year-old Julie Jackson.

    The four women were discovered around midday in a back bedroom of Powell's apartment at the Fairmont Terrace Apartments near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue. All four had their hands tied behind their backs with blue or pink fabric and gunshots to the head.

    The attorneys representing the Poores have argued that the state built a flimsy case on unreliable witnesses who admittedly used drugs and cut deals with prosecutors.

    http://www.news9.com/story/25553447/...ur-tulsa-women
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Trial for one of two brothers in Fairmont Terrace quadruple slaying postponed so defense can further review evidence

    Defense attorney says he is not ready to begin the trial Monday

    By Corey Jones
    The Tulsa World

    The high-profile trial scheduled to begin next week for one of two brothers charged in the 2013 quadruple homicide at Fairmont Terrace was postponed Wednesday to an undetermined date.

    Attorney Wesley Johnson went before the court “with my hat in my hand” to ask for more time to review evidence and prepare his defense of James Poore. The defendant was to face jury trial on Monday after Johnson had assured the court that he would be ready.

    A hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday during which Johnson is to tell Judge Kurt Glassco which week best fits his schedule. The weeks of Nov. 30 and Feb. 1 were discussed Wednesday.

    A trial for the defendant’s brother, Cedric Poore, remains slated for Oct. 19.

    Glassco quoted from a transcript of a previous hearing in which Johnson said he had gone through all the evidence and stated multiple times that he was prepared for trial Sept. 14.

    “I’m really having difficulty understanding your position,” Glassco said, noting that Johnson’s comments were a “strong statement.”

    Johnson replied by saying, “I over-reached way far.”

    He said challenges cropped up in a “major” murder case this month that “took a tremendous amount of time to deal with.”

    Johnson said he took responsibility for his statement and over-reaching. But, he said, to hold a murder trial for which he is not sufficiently prepared would set up James Poore to suffer from ineffective counsel.

    District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler told Glassco that the state was ready to go to trial on Monday.

    But Kunzweiler said he is more frequently encountering arguments about ineffective counsel these days and that he understands the plea coming from a “seasoned” attorney.

    Kunzweiler did not object to the motion for continuance, appearing to indicate concern that an ineffective counsel argument could be made down the line.

    Glassco, visibly exasperated, went ahead and granted the motion.

    The Poore brothers are each charged with four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of robbery with a firearm in the shooting deaths of Julie Jackson, Misty Nunley, Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor on Jan. 7, 2013.

    The victims’ bodies were found in Powell’s apartment near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue. Each had been shot, and each woman’s hands were bound behind her back.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...087bb5359.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #10
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    I still don't get why this is isn't a capital case. I mean four women murdered in Oklahoma isn't enough to seek the death penalty?

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